Nuisance callers dial up a 999 logjam

Today, i am going to elaborate on one of the articles in "Home" section of The Straits Times.
It is titled "nuisance callers dial up a 999 logjam."

The article is an idea-driven Story.
The main idea of the story is about pranksters swamping the police hotline while others treat it as a phone directory or compliant bureau.

After reading the article, I was disappointed and astonished. Singaporeans have been using 999 as a round- the-clock information bureau. They wanted the contact numbers of hotels, ministries and other agencies. I feel that this a self-centered act as others might have to use the hotline for emergencys. If they really need to know the location of a place or a contact number of a company, they should look for it from other sources and not the police.

The police 999 line is meant only for police-related emergencies, but officers not only have to deal with a daily influx of nuisance calls but also take other non-emergency calls. In Parliament earlier this month, Second Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said the emergency line received 1.5 million calls last year, with close to six in 10 of those being nuisance calls. Of the 320 000 incidents the police responded to, six in 10 did not present an imminent threat to life or property. These include noise-related complaints and sightings of stray animals.

Among the genuine callers were many people who used 999 as a hotline of first resort. Over four in 10 of these calls in the day and night were non-emergency in nature, meaning the callers could have called the neighbourhood police centres or relevant agencies directly instead. Many of such calls, especially those at night, were complaints about noisy neighbours and noisy work sites.

There was a incident where a police officer while taking a call about a motorcycle accident, calmly entering the details into her computer for the police and paramedics, she received a call from a prankster. This is an instance of how nuisance calls can sometimes hamper the speed at which information is passed on and can potentially delay police response in situations where every second counts.

People seem to forget that the public also has a responsibility to use these resources properly. We should treasure this resource and not abuse it as other countries do not have such a resource.

To reslove this problem, I feel that the police could give out phamplets or broadcasting advertisments telling the public to be more considerate and the when to use the police hotline.

In conclusion, I think we should not trouble the police by making prank calls as the police have a lot to do to keep the society safe. And remember, police are humans too, not robots.